Simon

I just got this email and video from 350, the global grassroots climate movement: It's 3 in the morning in Poland and I need your help with an experiment. Can you take 2 minutes watch an animation and help take over YouTube? A little background: starting a week ago, a few members of the international 350.org team have converged for the annual UN Climate Conference. It's a little crazy here--over 9,000 people representing 190 countries have gathered to negotiate our collective future. Things are changing by the hour, and there's both bad news and good news to report. The bad news first: lots of countries still don't get it, and some (most notably, the EU) are using delay tactics to postpone action, squandering time that scientists say we simply do not have. Now for the good news: over 49 of the least developed countries (that's more than a quarter of the world's nations) just announced support for a 350 target. This is AMAZING, as last year a 350 goal wasn't even on the map. It's testament to your hard work--and the very real threats these countries are facing right now--that we've come so far in such a short time. More good news: there is a movement bubbling up here--scores of people are working with us, both inside and outside of the UN, to campaign for strong climate action in the face of stiff political opposition. This Saturday, we're all going to join hundreds of activists in Poland--and thousands of people around the world--for the Global Day of Action for the Climate. You can be part of this. The first option is to look for an action taking place near you on Saturday, December 6th. The second option is the experiment I referred to: I need your help taking over YouTube with climate change videos, as part of a collaborative campaign with some of our partner organizations. It's an unconventional tactic, but sometimes, simply getting people to listen and talk makes a difference--that is, if you can get the right conversation going. Today, we're asking you to be part of this conversation by commenting on a 90-second animation about 350. If we can get enough comments and ratings, we can climb the YouTube charts. With your help, we'll make YouTube all about climate change, even if just for one day. Our video is a 90-second animation that explains 350--the science, the art, the movement--without using a single word. I think you'll like it. Please watch it, comment, and pass it on. People are always talking about how we need to reach outside the choir. YouTube is the third most popular site on the internet. If we can make a splash there, we'll be well on our way to spreading 350 all around the world. So please, watch the video today and take a minute to comment on it, and help start a climate conversation. Thanks for all you do, Jon and the rest of the 350.org team. Watch the video: ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"> You can watch the video on YouTube as well.

According to the Amazon Defense Coalition the petrochemical company Chevron has hired Douglas Southgate, a so called “scientist” and an “environmental economist”, who is affiliated with the Heartland Institute, a climate change denying think tank. “Based in Chicago, Heartland promotes the idea that there is a “debate” about global warming despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is responsible for it. The Institute also creates research that downplays the dangers of secondhand smoke.” “Contributions to the Heartland Institute have flowed from the likes of Exxon, Phillip Morris, and the ultraconservative Scaife Foundation. The Institute stopped disclosing its funders in 2006 after it came under attack for producing tailor-made research in support of its industry supporters.” The Amazon Defense Coalition says that the disclosure of Southgate’s affiliation is bound to raise questions about Chevron’s commitment to green policies. According to the coalition Chevron has fallen significantly behind its industry rivals in these matters. “Unlike industry peers Shell and BP, Chevron has no significant human rights policy for countries where it operates and currently faces numerous environmental problems around the globe — including a potential $16.3 billion liability for toxic dumping in Ecuador’s Amazon.” Southgate has already been busy in the news reports trying to defend Chevron’s practices. This includes the dumping of more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways and the abandonment of more than 900 waste pits gouged out of the jungle floor in Ecuador. “The indigenous groups in Chevron’s former concession area have seen their populations decimated and ancestral lands plagued by the toxic contamination. Amazonian communities have long charged that Chevron has fabricated “junk science” to cover up the fact thousands of soil samples produced in the Ecuador trial demonstrate life-threatening levels of contamination. An independent, court-appointed expert who reviewed 54,000 chemical sampling results recently found that 100% of Chevron’s former well sites are contaminated with illegal levels of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons.” Besides Southgate the Amazon Defense Coalition says Chevron has hired other questionable “scientists”. Ralph Marquez, a former chief lobbyist for the chemical industry in Texas, and Sara McMillen, a Chevron scientist who speaks to the media about toxicological issues without having a degree in the subject. The Amazon Defense Coalition also criticises Chevron for their “human energy” greenwashing advertising campaign, saying that the “oil giant’s ad campaign touts a “green” image while Amazon humanitarian crisis festers.” “Chevron’s so-called ‘green’ advertising campaign is a fraud when compared to the company’s environmental record in the Amazon,” said Pablo Fajardo, an Ecuadorian lawyer and Goldman Prize winner who leads the Ecuador case. “Chevron is paying academics to distort research to hide a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe in Ecuador,” said Fajardo. “Their advertising budget would be better spent on solving real problems.”

The UN climate conference in Poznań, Poland, has started. The conference will be held on 1st - 12th of December. Thousands of participants from around the world will discuss and negotiate on an "ambitious and effective" international climate change agreement. The meeting is the "halfway mark" until Copenhagen in 2009. ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"> The Poznań Climate Change Conference provides the opportunity to draw together the advances made in 2008 and move from discussion to negotiation mode in 2009. At COP 14/CMP 4 in Poznań, Parties are expected to: Agree on a plan of action and programmes of work for the final year of negotiations after a year of comprehensive and extensive discussions on crucial issues relating to future commitments, actions and cooperation Make significant progress on a number of on-going issues required to enhance further the implementation of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, including capacity-building for developing countries, reducing emissions from deforestation (REDD), technology transfer and adaptation. Advance understanding and commonality of views on "shared vision" for a new climate change regime Strengthen commitment to the process and the agreed timeline Such an outcome at Poznań would build momentum towards an agreed outcome at Copenhagen in December 2009. Key dates: 1 December: Opening of the conference. Opening sessions of the AWG-LCA, AWG-KP, SBI and SBSTA 8 December: No formal meetings related to the process will take place, due to observation of the Islamic feast of Eid Al-Adha. (This has been shifted from Tuesday, 9 December, to Monday, 8 December.) All formal meetings currently scheduled for Monday 8 December will be rescheduled to Tuesday, 9 December, at the same times. 10 December: Closing day of the 29th sessions of SBSTA and SBI, the 4th session of the AWG-LCA and the resumed sixth session of the AWG-KP 11-12 December: High-Level Segment of COP 14 and CMP 4.

CBS News reports that the Canadian Coast Guard is confirming “that in a major first, a commercial ship travelled through the Northwest Passage this fall to deliver supplies to communities in western Nunavut”. “We did have a commercial cargo vessel that did the first scheduled run from Montreal, up through the eastern Arctic, through the Northwest Passage to deliver cargo to communities in the west,” Brian LeBlanc of the Canadian Coast Guard told CBC News. “That was the first — that I’m aware of anyway — commercial cargo delivery from the east through the Northwest Passage.” […]Rayes, who was on the vessel during its trip through the Northwest Passage, said the company informed the coast guard, which put an icebreaker on standby. “They were ready to be there for us if we called them, but I didn’t see one cube of ice,” he said. “They were informed about our presence [and] they were ready to give us the support needed. However, since there was no ice whatsoever, the service was not needed, we didn’t call for it.” Via Climate Progress

Photo credit: World Resources Institute Staff Al Gore talked about the failing auto industry in USA, "clean coal" and the environmental work being done in China in a recent interview with Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria. In the interview Gore said that he thinks that the whole auto industry needs to be "transformed", and that the auto makers in USA "should make a transition as quickly as possible toward plug-in hybrid electric vehicles." ZAKARIA: Would you bail out the carmakers? GORE: Whatever assistance might be forthcoming should be focused on speeding the changes that are absolutely essential to ensure that our companies are competitive in the global marketplace. When I was vice president, I initiated a program called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. The federal government invested over a billion dollars in partnership with the Big Three to focus on the accelerated development of advanced high-efficiency vehicles. But as soon as they felt they were off the hook at the end of 2000, they pulled the plug and walked away. Gore also mentioned that he is in favour of raising the gasoline tax, saying: "I don't think that's likely to happen, but that's my preferred alternative". If you are a regular Green Blog reader you probably know by now that I am a big supporter of high gasoline taxes. I think it’s a great and easy way to encourage more people to use carpools, take public transportations or bike to work etc. Of course the taxes generated should help pay for something else in return for a higher gasoline tax. This way people and families don’t end up loosing any money and there won' be so much criticism about rising fuel costs. Gore also, somewhat, defended developing nations such as China and India: "China and India and other developing countries all have exactly the same excuse for not moving on the climate crisis. They say, the United States hasn't done anything. When the U.S. acts it will be by far the most effective way to improve the odds that China and India and other smaller developing economies will also act. They know that it's in their own interest to tackle this problem." Gore especially defended China saying the country "is now actively preparing a version of cap-and-trade legislation" and that "their top leaders appear to get it". Other things Gore mentioned in the interview were that China has "the largest tree-planting program in the world. They are actively building solar and wind and exploring carbon capture and sequestration". But according to Gore these countries "are not doing enough by a long shot [but] the way to encourage them to do more is … for the United States to take the lead". Gore also continued to criticize the "clean coal" lie that the fossil companies are foolishly trying to sell to the public and politicians. Gore said in the interview that "clean coal" uses "technology that does not yet exist", and that "we cannot allow an illusion to be the basis of a strategy for human survival". You can read the whole interview here.